Stocks have risen sharply to record highs since Republican Donald Trump was elected president in November, and the best-performing equities have “floated up from the bottom of the barrel” according to some analysts and fund managers.

Analysts not that over the past 3 months, investors in developed market stock have been bidding up lower-quality stocks. Stocks with the lowest sales growth have returned 7%, while stocks with the highest sales growth have returned -0.9%.

The S&P 500 rose about 6% to a record after Donald Trump won the election on a platform of lower taxes, less regulation, better-quality jobs and greater spending on roads, bridges and airports.

Consumer sentiment and small-business optimism have soared on the on Donald Trump’s promise of improved growth.

Also, some higher-quality companies are getting bid up.

The list of large-cap companies that are most owned by fund managers includes Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ:AApL), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM).

Paul Ebeling

Paul A. Ebeling, polymath, excels in diverse fields of knowledge. Pattern Recognition Analyst in Equities, Commodities and Foreign Exchange and author of “The Red Roadmaster’s Technical Report” on the US Major Market Indices™, a highly regarded, weekly financial market letter, he is also a philosopher, issuing insights on a wide range of subjects to a following of over 250,000 cohorts. An international audience of opinion makers, business leaders, and global organizations recognizes Ebeling as an expert.